The United States Antidumping Law: Lessons Learnt For Vietnam

 The last two decades have witnessed a widespread application of antidumping actions throughout the world. Among industrialized countries, the U.S has emerged as a major abuser of antidumping measures against other countries, especially developing countries. For Vietnam, there are two major reasons to anticipate that the number of antidumping actions against Vietnamese goods will increase in the near future. Firstly, Vietnamese exports have been grown uninterruptedly in the last two decades and are expected to continue in the future. Secondly, the membership of the WTO will create a new wave of exports of labor intensive products (e.g. textile and wooden furniture). Accordingly, the response to antidumping actions, especially those from the U.S, is a real matter for the government of Vietnam.

The last two decades have witnessed a widespread application of antidumping actions throughout the world. Among industrialized countries, the U.S has emerged as a major abuser of antidumping measures against other countries, especially developing countries. For Vietnam, there are two major reasons to anticipate that the number of antidumping actions against Vietnamese goods will increase in the near future. Firstly, Vietnamese exports have been grown uninterruptedly in the last two decades and are expected to continue in the future. Secondly, the membership of the WTO will create a new wave of exports of labor intensive products (e.g. textile and wooden furniture). Accordingly, the response to antidumping actions, especially those from the U.S, is a real matter for the government of Vietnam.

Under the WTO system, the litigation proceeding before WTO Dispute Settlement System is an important way to confront with U.S violations of WTO rules. Although WTO rules are often criticized for its ambiguity and uncertainty, there are still four substantial issues which have been explicitly concluded to be WTO-inconsistent by WTO panels. These issues include the zeroing methodology, arm’s length test, treatment of unpaid sales and determination of injury threat. Besides, recent years have seen efforts of many countries in making amendments to WTO rules on antidumping. Almost all of their proposals have common targets aiming at creating more transparent rules, restricting the application of antidumping measures and giving more powers to WTO panels. Once becoming effective, they will have a key role in reducing the abuse of antidumping measures and WTO-violations.

In case of Vietnam, legal problems of the U.S antidumping laws for Vietnam are expressed through not only the U.S application of WTO-inconsistent rules but also their discretion in some issues. These discretions include the treatment of Vietnam as a non-market economy country and the recent launch of an unlawful import monitoring program on Vietnamese textile and apparel products. Besides, in the process of antidumping investigation, answering U.S questionnaires is a noteworthy point as it plays a decisive role in shaping final results. Precedent cases with the U.S showed that this is also a real challenge for Vietnamese exporters because of the lack of experience and necessary knowledge. Based on analysis on these challenges, the Paper finally draws out lessons and implications on necessary measures which should be followed by the government in order to protect its exports to the U.S market or any other country.